Meal-cake-forming machine.



No. 658,987 Patented U01. 2. I900. A., JONES.

MEAL CAKE FORMING MACHINE.

(Application filed: Aug. 4, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

No. 658,987; Patented Oct. 2, I900. A. JONES.

MEAL CAKE FORMING MACHINE.

(Application filed. Aug. 4, 1900.)

2 Sheats-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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pact and convenient form for introduction UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE- ALFRED JONES, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THE MOUND CITY PAINT AND COLOR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MEAL-CAKE-FORMING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 658,987, dated October 2, 1900-.

Application filed August 4, 1900.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED JONES, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Meal-Oake-Forming Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a machine designed for usein producing cakes of oleaginous seedmeal whereby the meal is rendered into cominto the compress to express the oil therefrom by compression.

The invention consists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims. I

Figure I is a View of the machine in elevation. Fig. II is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line II II, Fig. V. Fig. III is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken through the cake-mold box and adjacent part of the turnstable. Fig. IV is a vertical sectional view of the machine. Fig. V is a view, partly in horizontal section, taken on the line VV, Fig. IV, and partly in plan View, of the lower parts of the machine. Fig. VI is an enlarged perspective view of one of the cakemold boxes.

l designates the base of the machine. Mounted on the base at one end thereof is a pair of posts 2, and at the opposite end is a' post 3.

4 is a head supported by the posts 2 and 3 and having a downwardly-projecting extension 5.

6 designates a turn-table having a hub 7, that journals on the post 3 and is provided with a series of ratchet-teeth 8.

9 designates a rocking lever swingingly mounted on the post 3 beneath the hub of the turn-table. This lever may be connected to any suitable power mechanism by a pitman 10, and on it is a spring-controlled pawl 11, that is provided with a notch 12 and is adapted to engage the ratchet-teeth 8 to cause rotation of the hub 7, and consequently like movement of the turn-table 6. In the turntable are two openings 6*, that extend in- Seria1No. 25,882. (No model.)

wardly from the edge thereof, preferably at diametrically-opposite positions. Fixed to the turn-table at the outer and inner ends of said openings are yokes 13, each provided with apertures 14. The openings 6 are designed to receive cake-mold boxes that are loosely supported by the yokes 13.

15 designates mold-box bottom plates provided at their upper faces with edge ribs 16 and having depending pins 17 and 18, that pass through the yokes 13 and hold the bot tom plates 15 from displacement.

19 designates mold-box frames that are hinged at their rear ends to the bottom plates 15 at 20, (see Figs. IV and V1,) the forward ends of the frames being free, so that they may be elevated from the bottom plates.

Each frame 19 is provided with a projection 21, the utility of which will be hereinafter referred to.

22 designates a ram-cylinder mounted on the base 1 beneath the turn-table 6, and 23 is a ram having a piston 24, that is arranged to operate in the cylinder 22.

The ram 23 is raised by the introduction of hydraulic or other pressure medium introduced into the cylinder 22 beneath the piston 24 through a conducting-pipe 25. (See Figs. V and VI.)

26 designates a valve-housing containing a valve-chamber 2 7, with which the conduct- 32 and the piston-rod 35 are pivotally connected to a rocking lever 36, pivoted to brackets 37, mounted on the base 1 of the machine, by which arrangement the valve and piston are caused to travel in unison with each other. The cylinder 33 is adapted to receive pressure medium through an inlet 38, at the inner end thereof, that receives the communication of a branch pressure-medium-cond noting pipe 39. (See Figs. IV and V.)

designates a rocking rod mounted in hearings in the posts 2 and provided with a hook 41, that is adapted to be thrown inwardly and to engage the projection 21, carried by the mold-box frame 19 when said frame is elevated by the ram 23, as will hereinafter appear. The rocking rod 40 is provided with an arm 42, (see Fig. I,) having a hook 43.

44 designates the controlling-lever of the machine, which is pivoted at to the machine-base and has pivoted to it one end of a link 46. (See Figs. I and V.) The opposite end of the link 46 is pivotally connected to a dog 47, pivotally mounted on a support extending from the base of the machine and in line with the path of travel of the pawl 11, carried by the rocking lever 9.

48 designates a hopper suitably supported above the turn-table 6. (See Fig. IV.)

The operation of the machineis as follows: The rocking lever 9 is actuated by any suitable power mechanism that will cause it to be rocked back wardly and forwardly, as illustrated in dotted lines, Fig. V. In the movement of said lever the pawl 11 engages the ratchet-teeth 8 upon the turn-table hub 7, and the turn-table is thereby rotated to carry the mold-boxes from a position beneath the hopper 48 to a position beneath the head 4 and above the ram 23, and vice versa, in which movement of the turn-table the mold-boxes are intermittently stopped, as will presently appear. As each mold-box is brought beneath the hopper 48 a quantity of seed-meal is delivered into said box, and the rotation of the turn-table conveys said filled box to a position beneath the head 4, where the molding of the cake of meal is accomplished. This molding operation is as follows: As each mold-box approaches the head 4 and passes between said head and the ram 23 the depending pin 17, projecting downwardly from the mold-box bottom 15, strikes against the rocking lever 36 and said lever is forced inwardly, thereby carrying the slide-valve 31 and piston 34 inwardly to the position seen in Fig. II. At thistime the inlet 29 in the valve-housing 2b is opened to permit ingress of pressure medium from the conveying-pipe 28 into the valve-chamber 27, from which chamber it passes into the conductingpipe 25, and therefrom to the interior of the ram-cylinder 22. The pressure medium thus introduced into the cylinder 22 exerts its force against the piston 24 of the ram 23 and earries said ram upwardly against the mold-box bottom 15, which is at this time located immediately above said ram. As the ram rises, the mold-box, composed of the bottom 15 and frame 19, is moved upwardly to the extension 5 of the head 4, in which action the cake of meal is formed in the mold-box. In the upward movement of the mold-box the pins 17 and 18 serve as guides therefor, whilethe pin 17 performs the additional service of holding the rocking lever 36 against outward movement. On the completion of the upward travel of the mold-box the pin 17 is moved past the upper end of the rocking lever 36, thereby freeing said rocking lever from restraint. At this time pressure medium enters the piston-cylinder 33 from the conducting-pipe 25 through the branch pipe 39 and inlet 38 and exerts its force against the pision 34 in said cylinder. The force of the pressure medium within the cylinder carries the piston 34 rearwardly, and through this travel of the piston the rocking lever 36 is carried baekwardly and carries therewith the valverod 32, and consequently the slide-valve 31. The backward movement of the slide-valve causes the pressure-medium inlet 29 to be closed and expose the entrance into the exhaust-pipe 30, (see Fig. 11,) while the entrance into the conducting-pipe 25 remains open. The pressure medium contained by the ramcylinder 22 therefore is permitted egress from said cylinder by return through the conducting-pipe 25 and through the valve-chamber to the exhaust-pipe 30 for discharge, and the ram 23 is permitted to descend from the position to which it was elevated. On the elevation of the mold;box the frame 19 is carried upwardly until the projection 21, protruding therefrom, is caught by the hook 41, carried by the rocking rod 4O. Then as the ram 23 descends the mold-box bottom 15 moves therewith, while the forward end of the mold-box frame 19 is upheld by the hook 41, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. IV, the frame swinging on the pivotal connection 20. While the frame is elevated in the manner described, the compressed cake of meal is withdrawn from the mold-box by the use of a suitable lifting implement or scraper and is ready for insertion into the compress to extract the oil therefrom. After removing the cake of meal the mold-box frame 19 is released from the hook 41 by the rearward movement of the controlling-lever 44, which movement actuates the arm 42, carried by the rocking rod 40, as willbe readily understood. During the time that the mold box is being elevated to form the meal-cake it is necessary that the turn-table 6 remain at a standstill, and its movement is stopped automatically in the following manner: The arms 7, projecting from the turntable hub 7, strike against the stem 47, carried by the dog 47, and throw said dog outwardly into the position seen in dotted lines, Fig. V, and moves the controlling-lever 44 inwardly, so that it will permit the hook 41, carried by the rod 40, to depend beneath the said rod and receive the projection 21 of the mold-box frame 19 when said frame is elevated. With the dog 47 moved outwardly into the position seen in dotted lines, Fig. V, the point of said dog engages in the notch 12 of the pawl 11 on each backward throw of the rocking lever fl, and the pawl is thereby thrown outwardly by said dog and held from engagement with the ratchet-teeth 8 to move the hub of the turn-table, and until the dog-is again moved inwardly the movement of the rocking lever 9 has no operating effect upon the ratchetteeth 8. The inward movement of the dog 47 to again allow the pawl 11 to engage the ratchet -teeth is accomplished by manual rearward throw of the controlling-lever, which moves the dog out of the path of movement of the pawl.

I claim as my invention 1. In a cake-forming machine, the combination of a turn-table, mold-boxes mounted therein, a ram through means of which said mold-boxes are elevated to compress the cake therein, mechanism for intermittently rotating said turn-table, and means whereby said rotating mechanism is intermittently thrown out of action, substantially as described.

2. In a cake-forming machine, the-combi nation of a turn-table, means for intermittently rotating said turn-table, a ram, means for controlling the flow of pressure medium to and from said ram, movable mold-boxes carried by said turn-table and adapted to be elevated'by said ram, and means carried by said mold-boxes arranged to engage said pressure-medium-controlling means, and to be freed from said controlling means on the elevation of said mold-boxes by said ram, substantially as described.

3. In a cake-forming machine the combination of a turn-table, mold-boxes composed of bottom plates and frames hinged thereto, said mold-boxes being mounted in said turntable, a ram for-elevating said mold-boxes, and means for holding the frames of said mold-boxes elevated on the descent of the mold-box bottoms,substantially as described.

4. In a cake-forming machine, the combination of a turn-table, mold-boxes composed of bottom plates and frames hinged thereto, said mold-boxes being mounted in said turntable, a rocking rod and a hook carried by said rocking rod arrangedto engage and retain said mold-box frames,a ram whereby said mold-boxes are elevated, and means for rocking said rod to free said hook from the moldbox frame, substantially as described.

5. In a cake-forming machine, the combination with a ram and head, of a turn-table, mold-boxes carried by said turn-table, pins projecting from said mold-boxes, a ram-cylinder, a valve-housing, means of communication between said valve-housing and ramcylinder, a slide-valve in said housing, a piston-cylinder having communication with the means of communication between said ramcylinder and valve-housing, a piston in said piston-cylinder, and a rocking lever having connection with said slide-valve and said piston, and adapted to receive the engagement of the pins carried by said mold-boxes, substantially as described.

6. In a cake-forming machine, the combination of a turn-table, mold-boxes carried by said turn-table, means for compressing the material in said mold-boxes,ratchet-teeth carried by the hub of said turn-table, a rocking lever having a pawl arranged to engage said ratchet-teeth, and adog arranged to be moved into the path of travel of said pawl to hold it away from said ratchet-teeth, substantially as described.

7. In a cake-forming machine, the combination of a turn-table, mold-boxes carried by said turn-table, means for compressing the material in said mold-boxes, ratchet-teeth carried by the hub of said turn-table, arms projecting from said hub, a rocking lever having a pawl, and a dog arranged to be struck by the arms carried by said hub and moved into the path of travel of the pawl carried by said rocking lever, substantially as described.

8. In a cake-forming machine, the combination with a turn-table, mold-boxes carried thereby, and means for compressing the material in said mold-boxes, of ratchet-teeth carried by the hub of said turn-table, a rocking lever, a pawl carried by said rocking lever adapted to engage said ratchet-teeth, a controlling-lever, a pivoted dog arranged to be thrown into the path of travel of said pawl to prevent it from engaging said ratchetteeth, and means of connection between said dog and said controlling-lever, substantially as described.

9. In a cake-forming machine, the combination with a turn-table, a head and a ram, of yokes carried by said turn'-table, and moldboXes comprising the bottom plates, guidepins carried by said bottom plates and arranged in said yokes, and frames pivotally connected to said bottom plates, substantially as described.

ALFRED JONES.

In presence of- E. S. KNIGHT, M. P. SMITH. 

